Walking along the riverside of the Lesse near Daverdisse and Lesse - Ardennes

We leave our hotel in La Roche-en-Ardenne after breakfast and travel to Pont des Barbouillons. This bridge is situated between Séch'ri (near Redu) and Daverdisse. The walk we have planned to do is a circular walk along the riverside of the Lesse between de villages Daverdisse and Lesse.

We park our car on a tarmac part near the main road. The first part follows the tarmac road to Daverdisse. But after approximate a kilometer we enter the forest. As many forests in the Ardennes, also this forest is used for logging. And the loggers aren't very careful with the forest. There are many places with waste wood and sawn branches. There are even half trees in the Lesse. And the walking path has been worsened by tractors and trucks.

We arrive at an open spot in the forest and walk towards the Lesse to find a small waterfall. It is a nice outing of the walking trail. After the open place, the loggers haven't mistreated the forest anymore and the walking path is improved. We walk uphill towards Daverdisse where we find a bench under a tree to have lunch. We hope to find a store who sells ice-cream, but the village is too small. We pass the visitor center and the church of Daverdisse and walk into the forest again. We walk over a flat walking path and find a logger collecting tree trunks. He shuts down its tractor and big grabber to let us pass. The forest we are walking through is very beautiful. We enjoy the trees, a wide walking path and a lot of shade. And jet it is time to descend towards the riverside of the Lesse again. We take a small walking path which is a nice variety of the wide walking paths. After a short walk we arrive at the riverside of the Lesse and follow the riverside again. We walk past two bridges with can be used as a short cut of the walk. And the state of the walking path tells us that many visitors take the short cuts. After every bridge the walking path is getting smaller. Near the third bridge the walking path can be seen, but it is partly overgrown. We take the third bridge across the Lesse and walk towards the village of Lesse. We walk through a high tree forest towards Lesse. Lesse is also a small village, but a pick nick area has at least some tables and benches where you can have a rest. We leave the village of Lesse and walk towards La Roche aux chevaux. La Roche aux chevaux is a rock where the farmers of Lesse led there discarded horses blindfolded in the ravine.

We descend a bit more and arrive back at the riverside of the Lesse. We walk the opposite direction of the Lesse as we did the way towards Lesse. The walking path on this side of the river lies not quite at the riverside, but a bit uphill. That is a petty. But shortly we arrive at our car.

The walk along the riverside of the Lesse is a very nice circular walk. From the parking lot it is your decision how long you want to walk. We have walked about 15 km, but it can be a lot shorter. De surroundings of Daverdisse and Lesse are very beautiful and it is nice to walk there. We strongly recommend this hike if you have a couple of days in the Ardennes of Belgium. We haven't seen any food or drink stores, so bring your own.